As the health care debate raged, I often wondered about the "infant mortality" argument that I often heard repeated, "the United States ranks 41 in infant mortality." I wondered about this statistic a lot. I've had two very close friends, one who delivered a son 4 weeks premature and the other who delivered a son 6 weeks premature. Both of these boys are alive and doing very well. Another friend works in a neonatal unit here in Utah where they are saving babies that are born weighing only 1 pound. And not only that, they have learned many ways that they can mimic the womb. Premature children used to face a life where they were certain to face many, many challenges. That is no longer certain.
My friend whose son was born 6 weeks premature and weighed just over a pound is a brilliant 1rst grader, a great reader with no physical or mental disabilities at all. My other friend, whose son was born 4 weeks premature is a bit older. While medical science was not nearly as advanced, he still is now in the 90 percentile of growth. He has no physical limitations and is very bright. He does struggle with Aspergers Syndrome, but he is the light of his parents lives and has many, many friends who love him.
These boys were both born in Utah, so to be counted as a live birth they only had to do one thing and that is to TAKE A SINGLE BREATH. In Utah, that is the only requirement. In some European countries, they don't count deaths of very pre-mature babies at all. Others require them to live a certain number of weeks or months. In some African nations, they don't even name their babies until after they are several years old.
After doing some research on my own, I can tell you that I truly believe that if you are born in the United States, you are blessed and have the very best chance of not only being counted as a person, but surviving and thriving.
Here is an excellent article from the National Review
Showing posts with label Healthcare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Healthcare. Show all posts
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Thursday, September 10, 2009
The President's Healthcare Speech...
"Perhaps Mr. Obama's most remarkable sleight-of-hand was his claim that he "will not stand by as the special interests use the same old tactics to keep things exactly the way they are." The reality is that nearly all of those "special interests" are standing with him. The doctors' lobby, the hospitals, Big Pharma, even the largest insurers have all invested enormously in government health care. " WSJ
The rest of the article HERE...
The rest of the article HERE...
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Monday, August 31, 2009
Stanford University's Landmark Healthcare Study..
If you haven't read anything else about the flaws in the current debate.. read this summary of Stanford University's Hoover Institute Study on Healthcare.. it's very enlightening...
1. Americans have better survival rates than Europeans for common cancers. Breast cancer mortality is 52 percent higher in Germany than in the United States and 88 percent higher in the United Kingdom. Prostate cancer mortality is 604 percent higher in the United Kingdom and 457 percent higher in Norway. The mortality rate for colorectal cancer among British men and women is about 40 percent higher.
Read More HERE...
1. Americans have better survival rates than Europeans for common cancers. Breast cancer mortality is 52 percent higher in Germany than in the United States and 88 percent higher in the United Kingdom. Prostate cancer mortality is 604 percent higher in the United Kingdom and 457 percent higher in Norway. The mortality rate for colorectal cancer among British men and women is about 40 percent higher.
Read More HERE...
Friday, August 21, 2009
Does single payer really help the poor?
This story is anecdotal and I try to stay away from that kind of thing, but this piece points out at the core something real and true. Entitlement is an ugly word. It is beneath the dignity of liberty which requires self-discipline, hard work and integrity. When we give up our liberty for something "free" we are sold what we deserve.. something that is less.
This is a story from Canada...
"Everything I want to say about this is summed up in a story that happened to my partner Shelley. Shelley and I are partners in a restaurant, and she actually runs it. She was given an appointment at the hospital for a procedure, and she duly showed up at the appointed time. Two hours later she was still sitting there waiting to be called. Now she was only able to get a two-hour parking meter, and so she approached the desk and asked if she could go and put money in the meter. She was curtly told that she was free to go and put the money in, but that if her name were called while she was away, that her name would fall back to the bottom of the queue. So she just decided that she would take the parking ticket as part of the price of getting the medical service she needed. Another two hours passed, and still she was not called, so she again approached the counter, and very patiently and politely explained (as only Shelley can, because she is the soul of graciousness) that she actually had a small business to run; that she was there at the appointed time for her appointment; that she had waited four hours, which is far longer than she had been led to expect the whole thing would take; that she had other commitments because of the business; and could they possibly at least give her some idea of how much longer she might have to wait?
Well, the woman behind the counter got on her dignity, drew herself up to her full height, glared at Shelley and said, "You're talking as if you're some kind of customer!"
There you have it, ladies and gentlemen, the essence of the problem: When the government supplies you with "free" health care, you are not a powerful customer who must be satisfied. They are doing you a favor and you owe the state gratitude and servility in return for this awesome generosity. They can give you the worst service in the world, but because it is free, you are totally disempowered. One of the most important lessons I have learned from my contact with the Canadian Medicare system is that payment makes you powerful. And its absence makes you risible if not invisible.
Now the articulate and the middle class do not let little things like that get them down. Even though they do not pay, they still get in the faces of the people providing service and make their wishes known. But often the vulnerable, the poor, the ill-educated, and the inarticulate are the ones who suffer the most because no one's well-being within the health care system depends on patients/consumers being well looked after. And by depriving them of the power of payment within the health care system, Medicare disempowers them. And the poor see this, because while they may be poor, they are not stupid."
Read more here.
This is a story from Canada...
"Everything I want to say about this is summed up in a story that happened to my partner Shelley. Shelley and I are partners in a restaurant, and she actually runs it. She was given an appointment at the hospital for a procedure, and she duly showed up at the appointed time. Two hours later she was still sitting there waiting to be called. Now she was only able to get a two-hour parking meter, and so she approached the desk and asked if she could go and put money in the meter. She was curtly told that she was free to go and put the money in, but that if her name were called while she was away, that her name would fall back to the bottom of the queue. So she just decided that she would take the parking ticket as part of the price of getting the medical service she needed. Another two hours passed, and still she was not called, so she again approached the counter, and very patiently and politely explained (as only Shelley can, because she is the soul of graciousness) that she actually had a small business to run; that she was there at the appointed time for her appointment; that she had waited four hours, which is far longer than she had been led to expect the whole thing would take; that she had other commitments because of the business; and could they possibly at least give her some idea of how much longer she might have to wait?
Well, the woman behind the counter got on her dignity, drew herself up to her full height, glared at Shelley and said, "You're talking as if you're some kind of customer!"
There you have it, ladies and gentlemen, the essence of the problem: When the government supplies you with "free" health care, you are not a powerful customer who must be satisfied. They are doing you a favor and you owe the state gratitude and servility in return for this awesome generosity. They can give you the worst service in the world, but because it is free, you are totally disempowered. One of the most important lessons I have learned from my contact with the Canadian Medicare system is that payment makes you powerful. And its absence makes you risible if not invisible.
Now the articulate and the middle class do not let little things like that get them down. Even though they do not pay, they still get in the faces of the people providing service and make their wishes known. But often the vulnerable, the poor, the ill-educated, and the inarticulate are the ones who suffer the most because no one's well-being within the health care system depends on patients/consumers being well looked after. And by depriving them of the power of payment within the health care system, Medicare disempowers them. And the poor see this, because while they may be poor, they are not stupid."
Read more here.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
An Important Issue in the Healthcare Debate...
One of the more insidious arguments from the left in favor of government involvement in health care is the infant mortality rate in the United States.
"The infant mortality rate is also called the infant death rate. It is the number of deaths that occur in the first year of life for 1000 live births." This is the definition used by the World Health Organization. However, it like so many statistics is flawed because when life begins is often fudged.
"Count again. We report mortality rates based on World Health Organization guidelines for a live birth. A baby fully separated from the mother and showing any sign of life, even a single breath, counts as a newborn, regardless of other factors. Many developed countries with better infant mortality rates don't follow that to the letter. They purposely exclude deaths according to weight, degree of prematurity, or how long the baby lives.
Be serious—if you try to save sicker babies, you will have higher mortality. Some are catching on. In a recent study, researchers found that by correcting for weight, the mortality risk was the same in the United States as in Canada—and maybe even a bit better—despite our northern neighbor's welfare entitlements and universal healthcare system."
Please read the full article in U.S. News
Other countries’ lower infant-mortality rates in the World Health Organization’s tables are often used to shame the U.S.’s health-care system. But those numbers hide the greater effort the U.S. takes to save the life of preterm babies, those born 6 to 20 weeks before they are due.
Please read the full article in WSJ
and
THIS ONE
It is a non-statistic and a non-issue. Please educate yourself on this issue. Again, please read the articles referred to.
"The infant mortality rate is also called the infant death rate. It is the number of deaths that occur in the first year of life for 1000 live births." This is the definition used by the World Health Organization. However, it like so many statistics is flawed because when life begins is often fudged.
"Count again. We report mortality rates based on World Health Organization guidelines for a live birth. A baby fully separated from the mother and showing any sign of life, even a single breath, counts as a newborn, regardless of other factors. Many developed countries with better infant mortality rates don't follow that to the letter. They purposely exclude deaths according to weight, degree of prematurity, or how long the baby lives.
Be serious—if you try to save sicker babies, you will have higher mortality. Some are catching on. In a recent study, researchers found that by correcting for weight, the mortality risk was the same in the United States as in Canada—and maybe even a bit better—despite our northern neighbor's welfare entitlements and universal healthcare system."
Please read the full article in U.S. News
Other countries’ lower infant-mortality rates in the World Health Organization’s tables are often used to shame the U.S.’s health-care system. But those numbers hide the greater effort the U.S. takes to save the life of preterm babies, those born 6 to 20 weeks before they are due.
Please read the full article in WSJ
and
THIS ONE
It is a non-statistic and a non-issue. Please educate yourself on this issue. Again, please read the articles referred to.
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